Welcome to Gyor

Maccabi Tel Aviv, and all the fans who tag along this Wednesday night to cheer them on, will find in Hungary's Gior a city where football means just about everything

On the banks of the Danube river, somewhere between the Hungarian capital Budapest and its Austrian counterpart Vienna, lies Hungary's sixth largest city, Gior. Maccabi fans visiting the city for Wednesday night's Championship qualifying match will enjoy strolling around this historic town where museums abound and the streets are lined with buildings dating back to the 13^th and 15^th centuries. Gior is in fact renowned for the preservation of its historic sites and even earned a European award for those efforts at the end of the 1980's. Which does not mean they have neglected the future, witness the huge plant of the German car manufacturer Audi, who produce their sport model (TT) and their cabriolet on the outskirts of the historic city.

An additional interesting detail about Gior is that its "twin" city in Israel is Upper Nazareth, though with its 130,000 inhabitants Gior is three times the size of its sibling. Some 70% of those inhabitants is Roman Catholic, so no surprise to find Roman Catholic churches in many of the city's streets. But Judaism too has roots in Gior, dating from the turn of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, when a Jewish community was established in the city.

So far the weather is concerned, July is the hottest month of the year, averaging 26 degrees Celsius. As for match-night on Wednesday, the forecast is for the hottest day so far this summer, with temperatures reaching 31 degrees. For Maccabi fans planning to attend the match, landing in the capital Budapest and carrying on from there to Gior, there is a choice of 41 hotels and guest houses in the city. Obviously the most convenient choice would be the ETO Park Hotel, situated next to the stadium and right behind the terraces reserved for Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters.

photograph – the FC Gyori official website